GAME OF THE KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
After examining him carefully through
a powerful field-glass, I was about to
prepare for a picture when Tom, who
had been gazing about, said, 'Gee! Two
more bulls! Look to the left.'
"And there, coming in file towards us,
were two big brown-coated beasts with
antlers that would tickle a Maine hunter,
but somewhat smaller than those of the
first. Sinking back into the bow of the
canoe, I got the camera ready for the
pair.
"But with that perversity with which
providence is well supplied, the bulls
turned towards the bigger one and for
a moment or two rubbed noses in a
friendly way-the climax of my oppor
tunity, but missed by overcaution-when
they passed to the rear and soon out
of sight. They had doubtless been dis
turbed by us further down the shore.
But the big fellow, motionless as an
image, still gazed at the three heads peer
ing over the edge of the grass."
And here it may be interpolated that
no antlered animal of the earth is more
obtuse and stolid than the moose, and no
animal, when finally alarmed, is a greater
victim of an increasing and progressive
fear than this. At times it seems almost
impossible to alarm them, and then,
when this is accomplished, one wonders
whether they ever recover from the
shock.
Twenty years' association throughout
their general range, with dozens of pic
tures by daylight and a hundred taken
under the blazing, roaring flashlight
some only 20 or less feet away-make
such conclusions irrevocable in the wri
ter's case, whatever others may say re
garding the supposed sagacity of the
moose and the alleged skill required in
accomplishing its undoing.
"Getting out of the canoe, I counted
on a picture as he swung clear of the
tree; and, walking slowly, got within 50
feet, when he backed a few yards and
then peered under the branches from the
other side. Taking a picture in this un
satisfactory position, I again advanced,
when he slowly turned about and walked
away with the spruce intervening.
"Somewhat disappointed, I returned
to the water, and, when about stepping
into the canoe, noticed the bull was com
ing back, and in a minute he was gazing
once more through the branches of the
spruce; but as it was now time for his
noonday rest, and since he evidently was
determined to see the thing out in a com
fortable way, he unconcernedly lay down,
and then for the first time I was able to
see, in all their symmetry, the great horns
just above the top of the high grass.
"This led to a change in my plans, and,
detaching the smaller and faster lense, 1
got out a big telephoto for the purpose
of obtaining, by a slower exposure, a
picture of the great antlers. Armed in
this way, I began a slight advance to
where the footing would be firmer, when
he got up with considerable energy, and
all I could see on the focusing mirror
was his slowly retreating rear-an unat
tractive target for the camera, however
vulnerable to a ball projected by a mod
ern rifle.
"Thus three big bulls had, in the course
of ten minutes, offered easy shots to the
veriest tyro, while a picture, worthless
beyond its power to recall the scene, was
the result of my first encounter with the
giant moose.
"Pleased by the prospective and disap
pointed somewhat by the retrospective, a
search for the lick was then begun, which
I felt sure was not far away.
THE BIG MOOSE LICK OF SKILAK LAKE
"A short distance beyond the canoe,
in the left-hand corner of the little bay,
we found a mud-hole around which the
grass had been trampled for some weeks,
and the riled condition of the water
showed that one or more moose had been
there within a few hours. Looking be
yond and through a fringe of trees, I
could see a big bare field, the surface of
which was plainly several feet below the
surrounding marsh. Familiar with simi
lar conditions, I felt certain that this was
one of the greatest resorts of its kind I
had seen in many years,- for every inch
of soil removed was either eaten or swal
lowed in the process of guzzling the
mineralized water, oozing out here and
there and covering a considerable part of
the surface (see page 448).
"It was plain, too, on closer inspection,
that the long drought had begun to affect
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